Mallorca - April 2011

We flew to Palma, Mallorca for the kids spring break.  The ocean water was frigid, and the pool water was only slightly better, but somehow the kids could tolerate it.  It was fun enjoy the warm weather and to see the beautiful island.

We went to the Palma aquarium and were able to see a diver feed the sharks.  He used a long spear with a big fish on the end.  Allen decided to examine a shark's teeth, Spencer took a closer look, and then Allen did too.  Watch out guys!

We visited the cathedral of Mallorca where Brayden got to try putting golf balls.  We also saw Bellver Castel where Brayden had an evil plan (or so it seems from the picture), but eventually he joined might with Allen and Spencer.

Berlin

We had a fun trip with Allen's mom to Berlin.  We toured the city on a hop on hop off bus, and were able to see the remains of the Berlin Wall and the line that is still drawn in the pavement that represents the Berlin Wall.  There's a fake Check Point Charlie for the tourists too.  We saw the famous Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag building (the terror threat was too high and they weren't allowing tourist up into the dome at the top).  We saw the Mercedes Bell Tower, known as "Big Benz," a train station with a list of all of the concentration camps on a sign out front, and the oldest train station in Berlin.  We also liked the modern statue of dancing spaghetti that we passed several times on our tour.

We spent a day at an indoor water park called Tropical Islands.  We had a great day with the kids (Allen's mom stayed at the apartment) in the pools, on the bikes and boats, going down water slides, eating ice cream, and playing in the sand.

 

Prague 2011

During Margaret's visit, we took a trip to Prague.  Prague is the only capital city that wasn't bombed during WWII, so it still retains it's medieval charm.  We started out at the top of the city where we had a great view.  We saw a monastery and cathedral  before trekking across the bridge into the old city and market square.  It was a pretty long walk, and it definitely wore Margaret out, but it was really fun to see Prague!